Woke up with the idea that I would take a break from birding today....real busy! Anyway, first thing I see on our BroomeRBA is a MARBLED GODWIT found by the birding guru Tim Lenz at Upper Lisle County Park in Whitney Point on a gravel bar upper end of the reservoir. So I forgo my coffee and breakfast (and plans!!)and literally fly up to the end of Kiebal Road Whitney Point for the best vantage point and meet up with George Chiu, Victor Lamoreux and Glenn Wilson. Everyone got on the bird, but then it flew!! So I eventually left as I had other things to do.
Then I came back in the afternoon to see if I could re-find it. First thing that hits me is that in Upper Lisle County Park over the reservoir there were all these white specks flying around, terns!!! It was like being at the ocean!! All three species of white tern that we get were present. CASPIAN, FORSTER'S and COMMON. I got great looks at these guys as they flew around the marsh at the upper end of the reservoir past the gate. I saw many more terns out flying around the gravel bar where the godwit was earlier. But the birds on the gravel bar were too shimmery and distant to ID. So I hiked down the edge of the reservoir from the north to a nice spot where I got great looks at the terns, gulls and what I thought was the MARBLED GODWIT on the gravel bar but the bird was smaller and when it flashed its wings, I saw black and white. The bill was straight and dark, a western subspecie of the WILLET!!! This was an amazing day for "WESTERN" WILLETS in upstate NY, they were seen at Myer's Point Lansing, NY and Montezuma NWR and now our Dorchester Park/Upper Lisle. Also present in large numbers were swallows, TREE, BANK, BARN and CLIFF flying around the lake too. All in all, I totaled 72 species today with 2 very rare species for Broome Co. Dave Nicosia -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
